Lesson 6: Forgiven All Trespasses
 
 Colossians 2:13-14 reads, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

At the moment we accept Jesus’ gift of salvation every sin we have ever committed or WILL ever commit is forgiven. Hebrews 10:17 tells us God never again remembers them, because they have been removed from Him as far as the east is from the west – see Psalm 103:12.

This, however, does not mean we can continue to sin as we always have. We are warned many times in the Bible that if we intentionally continue to live in sin we do not have the Spirit of God in us – we have not accepted the gift of salvation. See the book of 1 John, which tells us while we will continue to fall short of God’s standards, we will not continually and intentionally live in sin which we know hurts Him.

Romans 8:1 assures us there is no more condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Our life in Christ will be characterized by a process of learning to know Him, following Him, and obeying Him. When we fail we have the promise of 1 John 1:9 that He will forgive us when we repent of what we have done. This repentance does not “save” us again, it only restores our relationship with Him.

Just as we could do nothing to earn this salvation, so we can do nothing to keep it.